Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

Yesterday we built the girls a new climbing frame from an old pallet and some branches donated by our neighbour who asked if the girls would like them.

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They have shown a lot of interest and enjoy the high perch

This is wonderful! They must love it. I added a bunch of stuff to mine, but only the young ones use it. Go figure!

 

[micstrachan]

A Long Soak

Sometimes you just want to get into the tub and soak for while. It's not about getting clean it's about letting the cares of the world soak away. All this group needed was wine and candles yesterday. These are the least energetic dust baths I have ever seen!

Yeah, but they look content and relaxed.

 

[Ribh]

That is some book you are reading there. Perhaps Mrs BY Bob would like that one!

Hah! So I'm not the only one checking out others reading material!

 

[micstrachan]

Could Sydney be Laying Watch

I noticed this yesterday with Lilly as well. Others are bathing but Sidney is just laying there looking around. Has anyone else ever seen this behavior because I do not remember seeing it before?

Could be, but I thi k she’s just relaxing.

 

[Shadrach]

@Ali James
You mentioned Major a while back so I thought I would post the picture of him that hangs on my wall. As you can tell from the picture, he isn't well. He died a few days after. A friend of mine took a picture of him and painted this from the picture she took.

 

[Kris5902]

Are you're owls still out early morning then?

Yes, that was when each of the attacks happened, they seem most active between 4-8am and 5-10pm here, although I have also seen them mid afternoon. We have Barred Owls and Great Grey predominantly. The Grey sounds a bit like a drunk barred owl sometimes that has forgotten how to hoot.

@Ali James
You mentioned Major a while back so I thought I would post the picture of him that hangs on my wall. As you can tell from the picture, he isn't well. He died a few days after. A friend of mine took a picture of him and painted this from the picture she took.
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This is both beautiful and very sad at the same time. She really captures the Nobel even approaching his end beauty.

 

[MaryJanet]

I totally didn’t catch this typo at first

it’s “Hoppy” not Hobby... and thanks for all the well wishes! She is doing better, I don’t know if we will ever make it back to 100% chickening and free ranging, but she is tentatively walking around inside my laundry basket now, so things are looking up! As to the significance of her name... she Hops

Her story, for anyone who doesn’t know it, is that she is one of my “farm coop” rescues and a rehab girl. I think it was early spring of 2019; She “flew down” (read was dropped or tossed down when she struggled at being held) while being handled unsupervised by a 5 and (then) 7 year old pair of kids, breaking/damaging her leg. Not my coop, or my chickens! After I took her in, we did about a month of daily therapy to get her walking again, involving a Chicken sling and lots of supported walking. I also treated her for all the nasty parasites the farm chickens had aggressively. We also had a small egg binding/ thin shelled crushed inside egg issue that was touch and go, just as she was doing better from the leg injury. She made an almost full recovery, but walks with a bit of a limp.

And here’s a nice clip of all my rehab girls getting treats last summer: Hoppy, Croppy, Mrs B, and Missy, with my beautiful Leghorn x CCLegbar Rooster Sammy.

Missy was taken by an barred owl (now also deceased, with prejudice) this winter, I just lost Mrs B (bumblefoot and a prolapse) to reproductive/prolapse issues a few weeks ago. Hoppy and one other “old coop” survivor that lives with Bob are now the oldest chickens on the farm, I *think* she was born in 2016 or 2017. All my other rescues were purchased summer of 2018.

What a gent Sammy is!

 

[MaryJanet]

Very little impresses her Majesty, its only when I break out the live mealworms does she deign to get animated!

I just had a mental picture of HM the actual queen getting animated over mealworms!

 

[MaryJanet]

She is an Easter Egger that plays what I choose to call pink eggs (they are probably light brown)

I do that too! I sometimes prefer to call Mary's eggs pink instead of white although I take it further and blame "the lighting" when I'm called out on it

 

[BY Bob]

I think Phyllis is trying to dig her way out.

It did look like that. No breakouts in the last week. Maybe she needs a new way out?